Knight in the Light
by Rainack
Summary: While on vacation in Grandview, Carlee and K.I.T.T. get an unexpected visitor. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Knight Rider and Ghost Whisperer do not belong to me. Only the OC's belong to me.

Knight in the Light

Chapter 1

Melinda Gordon rolled over in bed. Her eyes fluttered open to find her husband, Jim, laying beside her, his head propped up on his arm as he watched her sleep.

"Good morning!" he smiled down at her.

"G' morning!" Melinda mumbled sleepily.

"How are you feeling this morning?" he asked, his free hand stroking her swelling stomach.

"Ask me again after breakfast. Your answer will be whether or not I throw it back up, or not," Melinda replied in a tone that was only slightly joking.

Shaking a finger at her mid-section, Jim mock reprimanded, "Young man, you need to stop making your mom sick every morning."

Laughing in spite of herself, Melinda reached up and gently kissed Jim.

Crawling out of bed, she headed for the shower.

* * *

Michael watched over Jason's shoulder, as he sat doing Foundation paperwork.

Jason wasn't bothered by Michael's presence. In fact, he had no idea Michael was there.

As Jason worked, he fiddled with a small box he held in his hand. He kept it hidden out of sight beneath the desk. Once, he opened the box and gazed wistfully at the contents, then closed it again.

Jumping up when the door opened, as though he'd just been caught somewhere he shouldn't have been, Jason walked around the desk to greet his visitor.

Carlee walked up to Jason, and he pulled her into his embrace.

Fumbling for a moment, not quite sure how to begin, Jason said, "I know I've asked this before, but I'm not going to give up." Pulling away and holding the box where she could see it, Jason said, "Marry me?"

Michael was now standing behind Carlee, his hand resting on her shoulder.

"I..." Carlee stammered.

"Don't hold onto what's gone, Carlee," Michael urged. His ghostly plea fell on deaf ears.

"I'm sorry. I'm just not sure I'm ready. I know it's been years, but sometimes I feel like he's still here," Carlee's excuse sounded lame, even to her own ears.

Michael looked sad, and whispered, "No, Carlee!"

Jason snapped the box closed with a click. "Okay. I can wait," he couldn't quite hide the hurt look on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The door chimes gave off a melodic tinkle as the door was pushed open. Melinda turned toward the door with a smile, and said, "I'll be right with you. Go ahead and have a look around." Then she turned back to the customer she was currently helping.

"This plate will make a fine addition to your collection, and If I come across any more, I'll be sure to give you a call." Melinda carefully boxed the antique plate up for the woman. The woman picked the package up and left the store.

Melinda walked over to where her newest customer, a woman she didn't recognize, was carefully inspecting a silver tea service.

"That tea service was imported from England in the late 1800s. Hi! My name's Melinda. Welcome to Same As It Never Was!"

The woman returned Melinda's smile with an easy smile of her own, "Hello. That is a lovely tea service. A friend of mine would really have loved it." A sad look crossed her face, but she shook it off. "I'm Carlee."

Carlee was about her height. She appeared to be in her mid to late fifties. Her shoulder length brown hair was generously shot through with gray. While she wasn't skinny, she was still trim and carried herself with grace.

"Are you new to Grandview?" Melinda's eye was drawn to the side wall of the shop. A man stood there, watching Carlee intently. He looked from Carlee to Melinda, when he realized he'd been seen.

"I'm just here for a couple of weeks, on vacation," Carlee replied. "I'm renting a house over on Emry."

"Oh! You must be renting the old Howard place."

"Yes, that's it."

The man was now standing between Carlee and Melinda, looking down at Melinda. She estimated he was a good six three. He wore blue jeans, black cowboy boots, a red turtle neck sweater, and a black leather jacket. His eyes were a piercing blue, and his hair was dark and curly.

"You can see me!" he said.

"Oh, you'll love it here! If you like history, the Grandview museum has a wealth of information on Grandview's past. If you're looking for rest and relaxation, Grandview is a pretty quiet, peaceful place." Melinda did her best to ignore the man standing before her. She really didn't want to drive away a potential customer by seeming to talk to herself.

"I know you can see me. Please don't ignore me. I just need to talk to her."

Melinda continued to ignore him. "Is there anything I can help you find?"

"I'd like to get my daughter a gift, but I'm not quite sure what. Maybe something to brighten up her room." Carlee turned toward a display that included a lamp. She walked through the jean and leather clad man.

A frown crossed her face, and she paused.

"Everything all right?" Melinda asked, still doing her best to ignore the man. She really did not want to help another ghost right now. The last one had been beyond stressful.

"Just felt a chill, is all," Carlee said, shaking off the unsettling feeling.

Melinda breathed a small sigh when the man let out a loud, "Hmph!" and vanished.

Carlee ended up buying a beautiful plaster lamp with molded scroll work. The glass shade was a variegation of browns, both light and dark. When the lamp was lit, a desert scene revealed itself.

Melinda helped Carlee carry her carefully wrapped purchase out to her car. The trunk of the black Corvette popped open as they approached. Personalized California plates, yellow lettering on a blue background, read KNIGHT.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Melinda sat straight up in bed, coming instantly awake out of a nightmare she oddly couldn't remember.

She received another shock when she noticed the man standing next to her bed. No matter how many times she experienced this, she figured she'd never get used to it.

"I know you can see me. Please, I just have to talk to them."

"To who?"

"K.I.T.T., my wife, and my daughter."

"What's your name?" but he had disappeared.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, Melinda leaned over her miracle, her husband Jim, and gave him a soft kiss before getting out of bed to go down stairs.

Jim, the man who had defied death and come back to her, mumbled, "I love you, Mel." He then rolled over and fell back into sleep.

Grabbing her robe, Melinda wrapped it around herself and padded down the stairs barefoot.

Booting up her laptop, she curled up on the couch and proceeded to search for Kitt, and for any information about the identity of the ghost.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Grandview. Nice little town," Michaela remarked as she drove down the main street following K.A.I.S.Y.'s directions to the place her mom had rented for two weeks. "No wonder Mom and K.I.T.T. decided to vacation here."

"Very quaint," K.A.I.S.Y. replied. The sun glinted off the midnight blue GMC Canyon, as they turned a corner.

"Oh, look! An antique store. Bet there's something in there Uncle Devon would have liked."

They left the town center, including the antique shop, Same As It Never Was, behind.

* * *

Melinda was sitting in the back office, staring at her laptop screen. There was very little information available on anyone named Kitt. What information she _could_ find was decidedly unhelpful. Thinking for a minute, Melinda wondered if the ghost might have been attached to Carlee. He had been watching her. Taking a chance, Melinda typed Carlee Knight into the search box. None of the Carlee Knights who came up had any connection to the woman she'd met yesterday. It was almost as if the woman's identity were a closely guarded secret.

Trying a different approach, Melinda Googled Knight. By choosing a few options in the advanced search, she was able to narrow down the results she received. Most of the results seemed to revolve around a man named Wilton Knight and his company, Knight Industries.

She found out that Knight Industries was a privately funded research and development company. They specialized in fields such as artificial intelligence, vehicle safety, and nano technology.

Melinda jumped a little, her hand going to her chest, when she realized the ghost was standing behind her. He was studying the computer over her shoulder.

"Care to give me a little help?" she asked.

"Nah! It's more fun to watch you try to find me. You're on the right track, though."

Melinda threw her hands up in the air and let out a frustrated, "Argh!" and turned back to her laptop, as he went away again.

Another company with heavy ties to Knight Industries was the Foundation for Law and Government.

F.L.A.G. had an extensive public website. Most of the site had to do with Joe Public getting legal help against big corporations. There was a section dealing with getting investigative help. This section talked about operatives trained to find legally admissible evidence, but because they worked undercover it didn't name any of the operatives.

Purely by accident, Melinda stumbled across a memorial page. A picture of her ghost took up most of the page.

"Michael Knight, beloved partner, friend, and husband," was written across the top of the page. Underneath the picture was the date of death. The year caught Melinda's eye.

"1989. You've sure been around for a while."

Michael popped in, and said, "Just keeping an eye on my family," then disappeared again.

"What?" Melinda looked dubiously at the spot Michael had been standing.

Most ghosts that didn't cross over had unfinished business. Ghosts that hung around for decades and even centuries after their deaths had major unfinished business.

Closing her laptop, Melinda pushed back her chair and stood, calling out, "Delia," as she did so.

Her best friend and employee, Delia, met her at the office door. "What's up?"

"Do you mind watching the store for a while? I've got to go make a visit."

Since the whole ordeal of Jim dying, then taking over Sam's body, and finally remembering who he was, Delia had moved from being skeptical of Melinda's abilities to fully accepting them. "Sure, no problem."

The two exchanged a quick, sisterly hug, then Melinda grabbed her purse from beneath the counter and walked out the door.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Melinda reached the old Howard place and climbed out of her S.U.V. to witness a rather strange sight.

A midnight blue GMC Canyon had pulled to the curb ahead of her. A young woman had climbed out of the cab and seemed to be talking to herself.

"Casey, you know Mom will want to see you, too. Come on."

"Can't exactly, at present. We seem to have a bit of an audience," someone unseen replied.

The woman turned and saw Melinda standing there. She smiled tensely, then turned back to the truck. She muttered something Melinda didn't catch under her breath, then slammed the door.

Instead of walking directly to the door of the house, though, she walked up to the black Corvette parked in the driveway. She patted the back fender as if it were a horse instead of a car and said, "Hey, K.I.T.T.!" then walked up to the door, which opened for her before she could knock.

Thinking, _He wanted to talk to the car?_ Melinda shook her head and headed up to the door herself.

As she passed the driver side of the GMC, she glanced inside. The dash board was like nothing she'd ever seen before.

Digital readouts and gauges had replaced the normal dial gauges, and there were four or five more gauges than a normal vehicle would have. There was also an LCD screen in the middle of the console.

She continued on to the door, now wondering if this had been such a good idea after all. The door opened before Melinda could knock.

Carlee gave her an uncertain once over, not sure why the antique store owner was suddenly at her front door.

Michael Knight chose that moment to reappear.

"Can I help you?" Carlee asked.

Using her usual outgoing method, Melinda plunged right in. "I'm Melinda Gordon, we met at the Same As It Never Was antique shop in town."

"Yes, I remember you," Carlee responded.

"I see spirits. Your late husband, Michael is here and quite insistent that he talk to you."

Carlee's eyes narrowed. "Look, Miss Gordon, I'm not sure what your game is, but it's not going to work on me! Get out!"

"Tell her the black Corvette outside used to be a black Trans Am, and that he's still about as much fun as a divorce," Michael instructed Melinda.

Carlee took a stunned step back, "How..."

When Carlee moved, the young woman from the GMC, and a man who could have been Michael Knight's brother, came into view.

The man took a few steps forward. "How do you know that?"

"Like I said, I see spirits, and Michael is here, now. I'm glad what he said makes sense to you, because it made no sense to me."

Not seeming to care that it looked like she was talking to herself, the young woman spoke into the air, "Casey, I think you'd better get in here." The weirder thing was that the other two didn't react to her talking to herself, as if it were a routine thing.

"Please, sit down," Carlee bit out tensely, gesturing to one of the couches.

As she moved to comply, a young man, presumably Casey, came through the still open door. He closed it and moved with cat-like grace to stand next to the other man.

"Kitt, is there any public record of your shell upgrade, or any of your conversations with Michael?"

"No, Carlee."

"That leaves a security breech. Have there been any attempts to hack the Foundation's computers?"

Kitt seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. "No. The Foundation computers are secure."

"I think she may be telling the truth," Casey spoke up. "My sensors are picking up a cold spot next to the couch where Melinda is sitting. In conducting an Internet search on ghosts, I see that many people who claim to have encountered them report temperature changes in the proximity."

Melinda was now thoroughly confused. What had Casey meant by his 'sensors?'

"One more question only Michael would know the answer to, "Carlee went on. Hope warred with skepticism on her face. "Who was he before he was Michael Knight?"

"Michael Long," Melinda replied two heartbeats later.

Both Kitt and Carlee simultaneously said, "Michael!" and the young woman – Melinda still didn't know her name – said, "Daddy?"

"He says he's been watching all of you for years. He didn't want to leave until he'd found a way to talk to you one last time," Melinda relayed.

"Kitt! Buddy! You are and always will be my best friend! You can bet that when I cross into the light, I'll be looking for whoever's in charge and demanding they grant you entrance when you finally go off-line. You've always been a lot more human than a lot of humans I knew. I really miss racing across the country side, turbo boosting over anything that got in the way. I like the Corvette shell, and the look your chose for your avatar."

Melinda relayed the message, her eyes widening as she realized the man Michael was addressing wasn't a man at all, but part of the artificially intelligent Corvette sitting outside. She had finally realized the significance of the Knight Industries connection.

Kitt looked at Melinda uncertainly, "Can I talk to him?"

"Yes, he can see and hear you."

"Michael!" Kitt's voice trembled. In that hesitant moment, Melinda realized that not only was Kitt an A.I., but he had emotions. "I've missed you so much!" Kitt found himself revealing his emotions more than he ever had before, "Right after you died, I came so close to off-lining myself. I knew you'd want me to take care of Carlee, though, so I didn't."

"And I know you'll continue to take care of her," Michael was standing in front of Kitt, resting a hand with no substance on the avatar's shoulder.

Now he moved to stand in front of Carlee, his hand resting on her cheek, thumb moving back and forth across her lips.

"Carlee, my love! I don't have the right to call you wife, anymore. It's not fair to you. I will always love you, but you are free, now! I want you to be happy. Jason is a good man! Go back and tell him yes! Marry him and be happy, not for me, but for yourself."

"Michael!" Carlee's voice came out a strangled rasp. Her eyes welled with tears that threatened to fall. "I've dreamt for years of what I would tell you, if I could talk to you one last time."

"I know, baby! You still talk in your sleep!" In an aside to Melinda, he said, "Be sure and tell her that was said with a mischievous grin on my face."

Michael turned toward Michaela next. "I'm so sorry I wasn't physically there for you when you were growing up. I was there for all of your firsts, though: first word, first steps, first high speed car chase, first love..." Michael trailed off for a moment, making sure Melinda relayed every word.

Melinda noticed Michaela paled a little at the last. Casey moved up behind her and put his arms protectively around her.

The sensor remark suddenly made sense to Melinda. Casey was also an avatar, part of the midnight blue GMC Canyon. Don't judge, she told herself, your situation is probably just as bizarre.

Michael noticed Casey's protective stance, and continued quickly, "Back when I first met K.I.T.T., I might have objected to something like this. Not anymore. I've watched as Casey has strived everyday to make you happy." Michael paused again. When Melinda had finished relaying Michael's message, she saw both Michaela and Casey visibly relax, though Casey kept his arms around Michaela.

"Michaela, I am so proud of you! I'm glad your mom had you to help her get through those lonely years before she met Jason. I love you, my beautiful daughter!"

By now, tears were trailing down both Carlee's and Michaela's faces.

"Don't cry. I'm going to a wonderful place. Old friends and family are waiting for me there. I've caught glimpses of them in the light. Even Devon. He showed up in the light shortly after he died last year. I was so tempted to go then, but I wanted to talk to you, first."

Melinda blurted out incredulously, "So you've always been able to see the light? You even caught glimpses of people in it?"

"Yes. I had no truly unfinished business. I just wanted to talk to K.I.T.T., Carlee, and my daughter one last time."

"He's done what he set out to do and he's ready to cross over now. He says he sees Devon." A moment later, she said, "He's gone."

A few minutes passed in silence, as everyone absorbed what had just happened.

Michaela pulled away from Casey and moved toward her mother.

"Mom..." she trailed off, and they embraced.

After a minute, they pulled apart and turned toward Melinda.

"Thank you, so much!" Carlee said.

"Yes!" agreed Michaela. "We do have to ask that you keep these two a secret," she continued, gesturing at Kitt and Casey.

"You must be the investigative operatives the F.L.A.G. website mentioned."

"That would be Casey and me. Mom and Kitt are retired."

Just then, Casey spoke up, "Speaking of investigative duties, Michaela, Jason's calling."

"Argh! He always has rotten timing!" Michaela said in exasperation. "So much for a vacation! Tell him I'll be out to the truck in a minute."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Carlee had given Jason time to talk to Michaela about her newest case before she called him.

Now, she picked up the phone and dialed the phone number she knew by heart, even before it had belonged to Jason.

Devon had turned the task of running F.L.A.G. over to Jason, after grooming him for years to run it.

The phone rang twice, then was picked up with a, "Miss me already?" Caller I.D. had its advantages.

"Hmm... Maybe. What I'm really calling about, though, is an answer to your question."

"My question? What question would that be?" Jason asked in confusion.

"I'll tell you this, the answer is yes!"

"The answer is yes..." Jason trailed off for a moment, then came back, "You mean, you'll marry me?"

"Yes!"

Carlee had to pull the phone away from her ear, or risk losing the hearing in it. Jason was yelling at the top of his voice. What started out as a whoop resolved into, "She said yes! She said yes!" as Bonnie and several other Foundation employees had apparently run into Jason's office to see what was wrong.

Carlee looked up at the ceiling, smiling. She hoped that wherever he was, Michael was as happy as she was at this moment.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Michael stepped into the light, feeling he'd surely be blinded by its brightness.

Coming out the other side, he was surrounded by familiar faces. One, in particular, was pushing his way to Michael.

"Devon!" Michael embraced the man who was partially responsible for his partnership with K.I.T.T.

"Michael! Welcome home, my boy!" Devon returned the embrace, slapping Michael heartily on the back. "Come with me, He wants to see you."

"He does?"

"Of course! He personally greets everyone who crosses into the light. Take my hand."

They were instantly somewhere else.

"Michael! We're all so glad you finally decided to come home!" The booming voice seemed to come from all directions. It made Michael feel like a small child again.

"Sir, I need to talk to you about a couple of friends of mine."

"Yes, I know. Kitt and Casey."

"Please, sir, I know they aren't human, and I'm not sure they have souls. Can machines have souls? But they are compassionate and caring."

"Don't worry, their place here is as assured as any of my other creations."

"_Your _creations?" Michael trailed off, a bit dumbfounded.

"They achieved true sentience through my will. Did it never occur to you that if humans could create sentient beings, why weren't there more of them? Why only two?"

"I just thought, I mean, the expense," Michael trailed off a bit lamely.

Gentle booming laughter surrounded him.

"Why?" Michael asked.

"I thought, perhaps, if people saw that sentient machines could show compassion to humans, maybe humans would show more compassion towards each other. Kitt and Casey have a long road ahead of them yet. But don't worry, when their time on Earth is ended, they will return home, as will your wife and daughter, when their own roads come to an end."


End file.
